I didn't get to many blog post done in 2013, but I did a better job of getting pictures in monthly albums on facebook. It made deciding on which pictures to use for my year end review a lot easier!

I hope to take a picture a day in 2014 and do a blog a month. We'll see how that goes.

Here is our 2013 picture highlights by month!

January
MK got a bike for Christmas from Santa. She got her 1st scrapped knee not long after the New Year.

You'll be happy to
know she made it through and we did not have to amputate.

Lots of MK's preschool friends had birthdays the 1st part of the year. It seems like we were at someone's party at least 1 weekend a month, some months there were several.

Group shot at one of the many parties

We went to the Gaspirilla Children's parade. We've gone a couple years. Luckily we have friends that live close, so we can park at their house and walk.

MK and Ian walking to the parade.

Febuary

MK did the Junior Distance Classic race for the 3rd year. Ian's schedule finally let him run this year

We went to the Florida State Fair with the Pass Family

Farmer Ian and Madelyn

Mk and Ian had a blast riding rides

We used our Disney passes and went to Hollywood Studios. We were hoping to meet Sofia the 1st, but she wasn't there yet.

MK got a haircut

and wanted it curled one morning

This was her Valentine's Day outfit

This was MK's Valentine's Day card she gave her friends

March

March brought several new babies to our family. My sister welcomed her 2nd son while Wes' brother welcomed his 1st daughter

Lilliana was welcomed on March 18

MK with Baby Aiden 3/7/13

One of my favorite pictures of 2013. We were leaving the hospital after visiting Aiden and Lulu

Rayleigh and Daniel came to visit for a few days

The Easter Bunny came to the Moose Lodge

and there was an Easter egg hunt

We went to Disney to see the Easter Bunny

April
April was pretty busy. We were on the go the entire month.

MK played soccer for the 1st time. She said she'd much rather dance than play sports but played again in the fall

We brought Melissa to Opp so she could go to Prom

While in Opp, we had MK a birthday party. This was the 1st time she has had an Alabama party. 2 of her 3 living great grandmothers were able to attend. On the right is my mom's mom and on the left is Wes' mom's mom. My Dad's mom was in the hospital and actually passed away not long after this. Luckily we got to visit on the way to Opp this weekend.

MK with 2 of her Great Grandmas

Birthday Girl on her way to school

Because so many birthdays were at about the same time, we wanted something other than a bounce house type party. MK had her party at Jo Ann's Fabric and Crafts. It was a neat party. The kids got to make a picture frame and then decorate cookies. We invited a few too many kids and it was a bit crowded, but we still had fun.

Birthday party!

MK came to work with me for Bring your Child to work day. They had lots of fun activities for the kids. MK's favorite part was getting her own Eckerd ID.

One of her preschool classmates left in April to go to Brazil for a few months before he started kindergarten. His mom sent me this group shot of the class.

Time of Wonder VPK 2013

MayMay began as a sad month. As I stated above, my Grammie passed away the end of April/1st of May (I honestly can't remember exactly when). We came back to Alabama for her service. The below picture is one of my Grammie and Grampie (he passed the beginning of 2012) at one of their anniversary parties.

While in Opp for Grammie's service, we were able to attend the Schofield family reunion at my mom's Uncle's house in Beulah. They always have a pinata for the kids. It was nice to sit in the shade and catch up with extended family that we don't see often.

CANDY!!

I got a new car before our trip to Opp. It is a 2013 Ford Escape.

Tatiana graduated from high school. She is one of the 1st little kids that I remember being around all the time. When she was 4ish, she thought she was a dog. She would eat on the floor with no hands, bark at people and use her foot to scratch her head. She has become an awesome young lady with a bright future. I can't wait to see the mark she makes on the fashion industry!

Young Family

MK had her 1st gymnastic recital/show. They showed us what they had learned throughout the year and then all got awards.

We got school pictures back. This included cap and gown for VPK graduation and regular pictures.

June
June was a busy busy month! Dance recital, VPK graduation, flower girl duties, last day of TOW.

Webby Dance recital 2013

last day of VPK holding 1st day of VPK

VPK graduation was excellent. The teachers went above and beyond to honor the kids and parents. The kids sang several songs before getting their diplomas. MK had a solo in one of the songs. The school also had us a plaque of the kids in their cap and gown made as a gift.

Singing her solo

best friends!

MK went to TOW a week or so after graduation before taking the summer off. This was her last day at Time of Wonder. It was a bittersweet day. They took care of her from the time she was 18 months old.

MK was the flower girl. She was very excited about it. Jessica and Sam definitely made her day allowing her to be part of their special day. Funny story about this trip, we left all our hanging clothes (including MK's flower girl dress) in Tampa. We realized about 3 hours into the trip. Luckily we have some awesome friends that picked up the stuff and drove almost 2 hours to bring it to us.

MK with Mr and Mrs Felice

Madelyn Kate the flower girl

July

MK spent most of the summer with the Youngs. They kept me updated with pictures and frequent phone calls.

Cousins on the 4th of July

7-11 Day = free slurpees!

We got to help Kaelynn celebrate her 1st birthday! She finally warmed up to us.

Happy Birthday Kaelynn!

August
We ended the summer with a trip to Alabama before school started.

Ice cream with Rayleigh

We helped Anna celebrate her 1st year of life. She had an awesome birthday party with lots of awesome gifts!

Summer came to an end and Madelyn Kate (she decided she wanted to be called by both names) started school. Her school is a 1st year school, so there has been some ups and downs. Madelyn was placed in the gifted class. Two other kids from her VPK also went to her school. They eventually were all in the same gifted class. Says a lot for her daycare!

Her teacher left after about a month and they got a new teacher. We didn't dislike our 1st teacher, but our new teacher is amazing! She challenges the kids on their ability level. I was concerned MK would get bored with her advanced reading level, but Mrs. Aquino is on top of it and gives her books on her reading level.

September
I didn't take a lot of pictures in September. It was definitely a busy month. We have been going non-stop since school started. I started a 2nd job and joined the PTSO board. We've done a lot of fundraising and planning in a short time. MK also decided she was going to play soccer again! She moved up a division and had practice 2 times per week plus games on Saturdays. She also started dance at a studio and has 2 hours a week of dance on Mondays.

Westchase Force U6

Neither of our parents live close enough to go to a last minute Grandparent Day breakfast with MK. Grandma Sally stepped in and came! It is great to have people that love us and MK just like we are family.

Grandparents Day 2013

Work sent me to Oklahoma to train some new Eckerd staff. This is a picture of the clouds. They were so neat.

October

We weren't quite busy enough, so MK joined Girl Scouts and became a Daisy Scout (she'll be selling cookies starting next week, let us know if you want some!)

1st Daisy meeting

Daisy Scout

The school had a Fairy Tale Bowl for K-2. The month of October each class read lots of fairy tales. They then took a quiz and the 3 with the highest score represented the class in the Fairy Tale Bowl. MK was not only on her class team, she was the team captain because she had the highest score! They also got to dress as a fairy tale character. Mk and a few classmates did a group costume.

Team Aquino

3 Little Pigs and Big Bad Wolf

The school also had Trunk or Treat. The Daisy Troop decided to participate. We had a Daisy Garden and gave away daisy bracelets. This is part of the girls posing with our garden.

Troop 505

Our Last Halloween with Ian. Shortly before Halloween we found out that the Pass family was moving to Massachusetts. We knew it was coming, but didn't realize it would be so soon. We have Trick or Treated with them for the last 3 or 4 years. We are happy for them, but definitely miss them!!

Supergirl and Iron Man

I'm not sure what part of the month, but the Batemans came down in October and we went to Universal Studios.

eating chocolate frogs

November
We stayed pretty busy in November! We started with a Daisy field trip to Old McMickey's farm. They girls got to learn about different animals, hold chickens and milk a cow. MK had been asking for a few weeks to pet a bunny. She even asked us to stop at the pet store so she could pet one. We stopped because we needed fish supplies, but they had no bunnies. She was very excited when she got to pet 3 different bunnies at the farm.

Daisy Troop 505

MK's best friend in the whole world moved to Massachusetts right after Halloween. There were definitely some tears shed as they said good bye. Thanks to technology they have been able to keep in touch.

Skyping with Ian

Soccer ended and they had a team party at Mellow Mushroom.Their season started out not so hot with 2 loses, but they worked hard and came back to win all their remaining games. Go Westchase Force U6!

Westchase Force U6

Samantha (one of our favorite teenagers who isn't such a teen any more) left for the Navy back in April. We thought we were going to get to see her in early October but that didn't work out. She surprised us with a trip home in mid November. She came in after MK's bed time, so the next day she went to pick her up from school. MK followed her around the entire time they were together. This had nothing on what Melissa (Sam's sister) did! she was glued to her. We missed her to say the least!

Madelyn Kate (as she wants to be called at school) finished up her 1st semester at school. Her entire class made the honor roll! She is in the advanced kindergarten class, so she hangs with a bunch of smarties.

Smarty Pants with her 1st Honor Roll

MK also learned to put her hair in a ponytail by herself. She is still working on them, but they get better every time.

1st ponytail by herself

Cousins on Thanksgiving

Mom and Wyatt came down for Thanksgiving. We had delicious food at the Carter house. After a little Black Friday shopping we took the kids to the Children's Museum. We had not been before. There was a ton of things for the kids to do. They had a special and it was cheaper to buy the year membership than just pay for the day. So we will be going back.

MK reading the weather on the green screen

December

MK had her 1st science project. They had to pick an animal and complete a diorama about the animal and it's habitat. She chose a panther. We researched it and then she helped with the gluing and coloring.

The school also had their first Science Night. The lower grades did class science projects that were on display. MK's class tested water resistance of 3 different band-aid brands. CVS is the best in case you were wondering. The teachers were teamed up in different rooms and had fun hands on science things for the kids to do. MK is making snow in the below picture.

Snow in Florida?!?

MK went on her 1st field trip. They went to Lowery Park Zoo. It was also her 1st trip to the zoo and her 1st bus ride. Lots of 1st that day.

MK and Paityn on the way to the zoo

Class at the zoo

Poor MK was about sick but meant she wasn't going to miss the zoo. She was a trooper and made it through the day. This was the bus on the way home. They were exhausted.

what are best friends for?!?

Mk's class had a Polar Express party right before they got out for winter break. Most of the kids wore their pajamas, we watched Polar Express and drank hot chocolate and had a surprise visitor!

My favorite picture of the year

Just before we headed to Alabama for Christmas, MK had her 1st Christmas dance show. This girl keeps us on the go!!

Let it Snow Ballet routine

We headed to Alabama for 2 weeks for the Christmas/New Years holidays. It was the 1st time we had been back for that length of time since we moved to Florida in 2009. It gave us the chance to visit and not feel rushed. Santa found us at Gaga's house.

top is little kids (Anna and Aiden) loot

bottom is big kids (Wyatt, MK and Matias) loot

this kid loves to read! she was very happy with her new books

We have had a very busy but fun year. Lots of memories were made. We've also made lots of new friends. I don't think I mentioned all that we have done since school started. I started a second job as a waitress at a friend's restaurant. I also volunteered to be on the PTSO board and be homeroom mom for MK's class. MK played soccer in a big kid league that had practice 2 nights a week plus games on Saturday, started dance at a dance studio (previously she took at daycare from a mobile company), she joined Girl Scouts, and took Mad Science club after school. We are for sure always on the go. Luckily Wes has been home since August as he prepares to take a route in a different place. He has worked away from home before but it has been a while. Working in Florida, he worked year round and we only saw him a few days a week. He will begin working in New Jersey/Long Island in February. He'll be gone for several months at a time but once he's home he's complete home for the rest of the year. I think we will see more of him and get better quality time with him when he is here. I know we will miss him like crazy when he is gone. I am already dreading him leaving. He does so much for us here!